{"id":5718,"date":"2013-02-01T07:08:03","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T07:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/?p=5718"},"modified":"2022-11-15T07:15:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T07:15:25","slug":"new-age-living-and-oh-by-the-way-your-feet-smell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/believe\/new-age-living-and-oh-by-the-way-your-feet-smell","title":{"rendered":"New Age Living (and oh by the way, your feet stink)"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Steven Gledhill<\/em><\/span> for FREEdom from MEdom Project<\/span><\/h5>\n

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit\u00a0of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.\u00a0I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,\u00a0and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength\u00a0he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,\u00a0far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.<\/span> Ephesians 1:17-21 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it that we who say we are in right relationship with Jesus Christ struggle to experience the freedom that Jesus talked about when He said that we are indeed set free by the truth? Why is it that we tend to give in to temptation and apply selfish lifestyle choices that rob and destroy rather than experience the abundantly full life that was promised by Jesus? Why is it that we tend not to trust God enough to fully turn our will and life over into His care and experience the transcendent peace that covers our hearts in relationship with Christ? Why is it that we cannot seem to let go of the history that we allow to shame us into self-condemnation when the debt for our sin was paid by Jesus?<\/p>\n

Concerning the selfish mistakes committed by you and by me in this carnal body and mind of flesh, the Apostle Paul said the following that applies to what happens to us in the grace of relationship with Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul speaks of our sin in the past tense; not about what we did, but rather about what we were<\/em> in comparison to what we are<\/em> because of who we are in Christ.<\/p>\n

In Our Mess<\/span><\/h2>\n

And that is what some of you were<\/em>. But you were washed<\/em>, you were sanctified<\/em>, you were justified<\/em> in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.<\/span> 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I will admit right up front that I am sharing with you another message from Pastor Fran Leeman (YourLifeSpring.org<\/a>) with my spin on what I received in my spirit from God’s Spirit. I was taken back by powerful truth Pastor Leeman shared from God’s Word concerning who, what, and where we are in the Kingdom of God.
\n\".<\/a><\/p>\n

If we are \u201cout of our mind,\u201d as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.\u00a0For Christ\u2019s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.\u00a0And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.\u00a0So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.\u00a0Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:\u00a0The old has gone, the new is here! <\/span>2 Corinthians 5:13-17 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Leeman discovered something profoundly interesting and powerful in his recent study of the New Testament. He found that the Greek word in ancient manuscripts for the word ‘world’ \u00a0in the context of this Scripture from 2 Corinthians and others has been poorly translated. When Apostle Paul is writing to us about “the new creation”, he is not necessarily speaking of transformation as “re-creation” of the person, so much as he is writing about a new time; a new age of how to be and live since we have died with (baptized into his death), and been resurrected with Christ; our humanity fully restored. We who have turned from our selfish sin as a way of life and have surrendered our will over to resurrected Jesus, have entered into the new age that is His eternal plan; the Kingdom of God having come. We have died to the former age, no longer living from the point of view of instant temporary gratification, but now resurrected with Christ into the new age of His Kingdom. The new creation is humanity fully restored into what it was originally created to be: righteous and beautiful.<\/p>\n

When Jesus absorbed our sin at the cross, our sin was condemned in the soul of Christ (Romans 8:3) for all eternity, removing our sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). I believe this is central to Paul writing that for anyone who is in Christ, having repented (turned away) from selfish sin, “the new creation has come:\u00a0The old has gone, the new is here!” In relationship with Christ, we have died to the age that is condemned in its sin, and we’re reborn spiritually—adopted into the new eternal age that is the Kingdom of God, here today.<\/p>\n

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God\u2019s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God\u2014this is your true and proper worship.\u00a0Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God\u2019s will is\u2014his good, pleasing and perfect will. <\/span>Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– For more on the subject of Transformative Recovery, read:<\/span> BRAINWASHED into Something Beautiful (New Life)<\/a><\/h5>\n

In view of believing into what Jesus did for us through His sacrifice and resurrection, Paul urges us to take on a new age perspective about who we are in relationship with Him. Pastor Leeman pointed out that the original Greek word for ‘world’ in this passage is ‘aion’, which is translated in English as (can you guess?) ‘age’. What if this Scripture read, “Do not conform to the pattern of this age<\/em>, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”? We might come to understand that having been saved by grace into the age of resurrection, what needs to change is how we think and live. This necessitates transformation to renew our minds into a new confidence because of who we are, and where<\/em> we are, in the new life experience. This new age of resurrection into glory even on this side of heaven, if fully realized, would indeed revolutionize our approach to each day that we live. How could it not?<\/p>\n

In the Light of the New Age<\/span><\/h2>\n

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.\u00a0If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.\u00a0But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all\u00a0sin.\u00a0If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.\u00a0If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.\u00a0If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.<\/span> 1 John 1:5-10 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is the age of darkness and the age of light. While we walk in this age of darkness in our natural bodies, we do so with the light of Christ alive in our spiritual hearts. Pastor Leeman talked about the moment that Jesus breathed into the hearts and minds of His disciples as a life-giving experience. In the book of Genesis God breathed life into Adam who in time did sin, resulting in man’s separation from God.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.\u00a0<\/sup>As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!\u00a0Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”\u00a0Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”<\/span> John 20:19-22 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus breathed new life into the disciples in the New Testament reconciling man back into right relationship with God, ushering us into the new kingdom age of resurrection by His grace. John wrote that this breath of life is the light of God shining brightly in the darkness. He writes that where we were was dark in those dark ages; but today we live in the age of grace, resurrection, and light. Whenever we confess our sin, it is not from the place of darkness. We live in the light of this new age; in the light of new life. God is then just—fair—to forgive us as we live in the light of the new age, in the hope and certainty of resurrection. He sacrificed His Son from the beginning to make resurrection (new life) certain for us.<\/p>\n

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.\u00a0Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,\u00a0we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.\u00a0All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.<\/span> 1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is Scripture that takes on much more powerful emphasis when it is understood from the context of who we are<\/em> in the Kingdom age of grace. Scripture can be confusing on the subject of sin unless it is in the right context. The next several verses in 1 John 3 go on to say that to continue in sin is to break God’s law; even to align with the devil. But when this Scripture is dealt with in the context of the two ages, those being darkness and light, it divides people into what they were and what they are, as opposed to what they did and what they do.<\/p>\n

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.\u00a0But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.\u00a0No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him…\u00a0This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:\u00a0If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.\u00a0Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God\u00a0and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>1 John 3:4-6, 19-22 (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Understand this truth: John is not writing that those who are in relationship with Christ will never sin. After all, he wrote that when we do sin and confess it, God is faithful to forgive. However, had we blown out the light of God and chosen to embrace the age of darkness, we would have never really<\/em> seen or known Him. How could we reject the fullness of abundant life in favor of torturous death (hell)? How could we choose pain and struggle in favor of peace and joy? When trusting God by faith, we are certain of this hope of the light of the new day, trusting in the evidence of our spiritual experience, even if it is unseen by our human eyes.<\/p>\n

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\u00a0For all that\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0in the world\u2014the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life\u2014is not of the Father but is of the world.\u00a0<\/sup>And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. <\/span>1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,\u00a0teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,\u00a0<\/sup>looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/span>Titus 2:10-13 (NKJV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, when considering the translation ‘aion’ or ‘age’ in the context of this passage for the word ‘world’, it appears that Apostles Paul and John are stating the obvious. Since Jesus has buried into condemnation the sins of this former age, why would I cling to it<\/em>? Why would I lust after, covet, and embrace the addictive things of this age that are passing away in the light of this new age of resurrection into grace? Why would I fall back into love with something that is dead and decomposing? My sin nature continues to look and reach back, but in relationship with Christ, clean in the eyes of God, it runs contrary to my new nature in the hope of this new age of grace to take pride in what I was before. In relationship with God, I am reconciled, renewed, and restored into what God created me to be in the first place.<\/p>\n

It’s a new day! It is a day of hope! It is the experience of such hope that we are pure in the sight of God. Since this is the truth about the age of light—because God’s Word says so—when we struggle with forgiveness (How can God forgive me this<\/em> time?), it really is our problem between our ears since we are not who and what we were, but rather that we are now the new creation in the light of the new day.<\/p>\n

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,\u00a0for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.\u00a0While people are saying, \u201cPeace and safety,\u201d destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.\u00a0But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.\u00a0You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. <\/span>I Thessalonians 5:1-5 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Citizens of Heaven<\/span><\/h2>\n

Apostle Paul writes in this passage that there is a distinct difference between those living as citizens of heaven in the hope of the new day (age) and those who will be shocked by the sudden invasion of the Day of the Lord as if a thief invaded their home, or like sudden labor pains when new life is borne through from the woman who didn’t realize she was pregnant. Those who already realize they are pregnant with the hope and promise of new life are already living in anticipation of the experience of glory. The light of day in the new age of grace and resurrection is already at hand.<\/p>\n

The challenge and promise is to choose to live in the light of the day. The challenge is to live in freedom. If only we could really… and I mean, really… believe this. We have the Bible, the written the Word of God. We have the testimony of the prophets and witnesses who have written of profound and powerful truth. What would it mean and do for us when tempted by our selfish, deceitful flesh if we could lay hold of the truth and promise of who and what we are in Christ?<\/p>\n

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.<\/span> Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Having heard this truth, redefines for me a whole lot of Scripture. The passage above from Hebrews 12 should remind us that we live in the age of resurrection with all of the great people of faith who have already passed into that<\/em> side of heaven. The race set before us is new age living with a glorious purpose and calling. So why don’t we shed the weight? Why is it so difficult, for the joy that was set before us—what we have to look forward to, to endure our dealings on this side of heaven?<\/p>\n

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?\u00a0Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!\u00a0So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God\u2019s law, but in my sinful nature\u00a0a slave to the law of sin.\u00a0Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,\u00a0because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you\u00a0free from the law of sin and death.\u00a0For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,\u00a0God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.\u00a0And so he condemned sin in the flesh,\u00a0in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.\u00a0<\/span>Romans 7:24-8:4 (NIV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What could not be accomplished by the law of Moses in the previous age, a temporary fix until the coming of the Messiah, is accomplished through the death of the flesh age and resurrected into the life of the new Spirit age. When I understand this, transformed with a renewed way of thinking from an eternal perspective as one alive today in the new age, it brings more life to so much more of what Scripture describes as our glorious future, while in a present tense. Paul obviously had incredible insight into this most glorious reality.<\/p>\n